International graduates from German universities are three times more likely to find work than migrants arriving directly for employment, a new discussion paper has found.
Germany remains the world’s most popular non-English-speaking study destination, with researchers increasingly viewing higher education as central to addressing long-term labour shortages.
The paper, published by Stifterverband and DEGIS (Deutsche Gesellschaft internationaler Studierender), comes as Germany faces a shortage of around 148,500 STEM professionals, with a further 1.85 million workers expected to leave the labour market within the next decade.
Researchers argue universities are increasingly functioning as part of Germany’s skilled migration infrastructure, particularly as more than half of international students in Germany study STEM subjects.
“The three-times gap isn’t really about intelligence or ambition — direct labour migrants are highly qualified people,” Jonas Marggraf, managing director of DEGIS and co-author of the discussion paper, told The PIE News.
“It’s about everything that happens before the job search. By the time an international student starts applying, they’ve typically been in Germany for around four years. They’ve built a social network, improved their German, completed internships and a thesis — often with a company — and they hold a degree that German employers know how to read.”
The study draws on survey data from more than 6,400 international students, graduates and workers from 134 countries, including large cohorts from India, Syria, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan.
Researchers found that practical exposure during studies — including internships, company-linked theses and field-related student jobs — significantly improved international graduates’ chances of finding work after graduation.
“Our data show that practical components in the curriculum, a field-related student job, and a professional network with Germans are the strongest predictors of a successful transition,” said Marggraf.
“The university years are where those things get built. That is the structural advantage — and it’s why immigration through higher education needs to be treated as Germany’s most important skilled-migration channel, not as a side route.”
The findings come as Germany increasingly shifts from a student recruitment approach towards a broader “study-to-stay” strategy focused on long-term retention. Marggraf argued that while “the intent has been on paper for a while” through policies such as the 2022 Skilled Workers Strategy, “what’s changing now is that the evidence base is catching up with the rhetoric”.
The honest answer is that Germany has been good at attracting students and average at retaining them
Jonas Marggraf, DEGIS
According to the paper, internationals who immigrate through higher education are 1.6 times more likely to want to stay in Germany permanently, while around 26% of respondents who initially planned only a temporary stay later decided they wanted to remain in Germany long term after entering the labour market.
“That is an enormous lever, but only if universities, employers and policymakers actually treat the student-to-worker transition as one connected pathway rather than two separate policy fields,” Marggraf said.
“With around 1.85 million STEM workers — nearly a quarter of the STEM workforce — set to leave the labour market within the next decade, and roughly 55% of internationals studying STEM subjects, the math is simply unavoidable.”
“The honest answer is that Germany has been good at attracting students and average at retaining them.”
“Definitely, yes,” said Thomas Oeldemann, executive assistant to the rectorate at TU Dortmund University, when asked whether German universities now increasingly view international students not just as learners but also as future workers Germany hopes to retain.
“The federal government and the Länder adopted a strategy for the internationalisation of the higher education institutions in Germany (2024-2034) in summer 2024. This paper clearly states the importance of international students as future workers in Germany.”
“Additionally, with the adoption of the Act on the Further Development of Skilled Worker Immigration, the German government has taken further steps to facilitate labour market integration for international students,” he added.
The paper also echoes previous PIE reporting that identified language barriers, labour-market preparation and networking as major concerns for international students in Germany, challenges stakeholders say continue to hinder long-term retention and labour-market integration.
“German proficiency turns out to be a strong predictor of getting hired — even when the job itself is in English,” Marggraf said.
The paper notes that while around 80% of international students in Germany study in English, only about 15% reported having mandatory German language courses embedded into their curriculum.
Oeldemann also pointed to wider labour-market realities facing internationals after graduation. “According to the OECD, both Germany and Canada have the highest retention rates of international students after they graduated,” he said.
“According to OECD data, 46% of international students are still in Germany ten years after they graduated. This is a high number, but at the same time means that a little bit more than half of all international students choose to leave Germany.”
“Often times, especially in SME, excellent German language knowledge is important, which might make it more difficult for international students to secure a job.”
The paper also found that students taking unrelated side jobs due to financial pressures had lower chances of successfully entering the labour market.
“Internationals who do a thesis with a company or a field-related student job have an 84% higher probability of finding work — but unrelated side jobs, often taken for financial reasons, actually reduce job-entry chances by around 28%,” Marggraf explained.
Universities across Germany have already introduced initiatives aimed at improving industry engagement and career readiness among internationals, though stakeholders say gaps remain.
“While German universities as a whole already have many initiatives to connect international students with industry and practical experience, there may be still some gaps that should be closed in the future,” said Oeldemann.
“At the same time, with the German economy experiencing a downturn, the connection of students with employers is not always easy.”
Almost half of respondents who left Germany said their departure was not entirely voluntary, citing visa issues, financial difficulties, language barriers and limited career prospects among the main reasons.
“None of these are mysterious problems. They are solvable — through curriculum design, university-industry partnerships, digitalised processes, and realistic visa rules,” stated Marggraf.
“What’s missing is coordinated execution.”
